List of video game console palettes


This is a list of the full color palettes for notable video game console hardware.
For each unique palette, an image color test chart and sample image rendered with that palette are given. The test chart shows the full 8-bits, 256 levels of the red, green and blue primary colors and cyan, magenta and yellow complementary colors, along with a full 8-bits, 256 levels grayscale. Gradients of RGB intermediate colors, and a full hue's spectrum are also present. Color charts are not gamma corrected.

Atari

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 used different YIQ color palettes dependent on the television signal format used.

NTSC

With the NTSC format, a 128-color palette was available, built based on eight luminance values and 15 combinations of Pb and Pr chroma signals :
The above image assumes there is no limit on the number of colors per scanline. With the system's actual color restrictions, the same image would look very different:

PAL

With the PAL format, a 104-color palette was available. 128-color entries were still selectable, but due to changes in color encoding schemes, 32 color entries results in the same eight shades of gray:
The above image assumes there is no limit on the number of colors per scanline. With the system's actual color restrictions, the same image would look very different:

SECAM

The SECAM palette was reduced to a simple 3-bit RGB, containing only 8 colors by mapping the luminance to color and ignoring the hue:

Nintendo

NES

The Picture Processing Unit was used in the Nintendo Entertainment System and generates composite NTSC video. The 56-color palette is built based on four luminance values and twelve combinations of Pb and Pr chroma signals. There are two identical whites, one of the blacks has negative brightness, and one of the grays is within 2% of another, so sometimes the palette has been reported to have 52 to 55 colors.
In addition to this, it had 3 color emphasis bits which can be used to dim the entire palette by any combination of red, green and blue. This extends the total available colors to 448, but inconveniently divided into 8 variations of the base 56. Because it affects the whole palette at once it may be considered more of a filter effect applied to the image, rather than an increased palette range.
The PPU produces colors outside of the RGB color gamut, resulting in some colors being presented differently on different screens.
The NES could select 4 palettes each containing four of these colors to be applied to the background. A background palette is applied to a 16x16 pixel area, however through a special video mode of the MMC5 mapper it is possible for every 8x8 pixel tile to have its individual palette. As for sprites, 4 different palettes can be used at a time and every 8x8 or 8x16 pixels can have their own palette, allowing for a total of 12 different colors to use for sprites at any given time.
Because of the constraints mentioned above, converting a photograph often results in attribute clash. Conversions with and without dithering follow, using the hex palette 0F160608 0F162720 0F090010 0F0A1910:

Game Boy

The original Game Boy uses a monochrome 4-shades palette. Due to the fact that the non-backlit LCD display background is greenish, this results in a greenscale graphic display, as it is shown in the simulated image, below. The Game Boy Pocket uses a monochrome 4-shades palette using actual gray.
Original Game Boy Hex / Binary0x0 000x1 010x2 100x3 11
Game Boy Pocket Hex / Binary0x0 000x1 010x2 100x3 11

Super NES (SNES)

The Picture Processing Unit used in the Super NES has a 15-bit RGB palette, with up to 256 simultaneous colors at once.
However, while the hardware palette can only contain 256 entries, in most display modes the graphics are arranged into between 2 and 4 layers, and these layers can be combined using additive or subtractive color blending.
Because these blended colors are calculated by the hardware itself, and do not have to be represented by any of the existing palette entries, the actual number of visible colors onscreen at any one time can be much higher.
The exact number depends on the number of layers, and the combination of colors used by these layers, as well as what blending mode and graphical effects are in use. In theory it can show the entire 32,768 colors, but in practice this is rarely the case for reasons such as memory use. Most games use 256-color mode, with 15-color palettes assigned to 8x8 pixel areas of the background.

Game Boy Color

The Game Boy Color systems use a 15-bit RGB palette.
The specific Game Boy Color game cartridges presents up to 56 colors without the use of special programming techniques from the full 32,768. From these, 32 are for a background palette, plus 8 hardware sprite palettes, with 3 colors plus transparent each. Typically sprite palettes share some colors, so the total colors displayed may be less than 56.
Though there is a 56 color limit, this in of itself is a palette storage limit and not an actual hardware limitation. As such, the programmer can swap out the palettes on a per-scanline basis. Because of this ability to swap out the palettes each scanline, over eight thousand colors can actually appear on screen per frame when programmed on a per-scanline basis.
When an older monochrome original Game Boy game cartridge is plugged-in, if certain combinations of the controls are held during startup, the games are colorized with one of the factory 12 false color palettes. In this mode, games can have from 4 to 10 colors, due 4 are for the background plane palette and there are two more hardware sprite planes palettes, with 3 colors plus transparent each.
The following shows these startup palettes and the combination of controls used :

Color palette

Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance/SP/Micro systems also uses a 15-bit RGB palette, and along with the original and Color modes, they have also a specific Highcolor 32,768 colors mode. The LCD displays of the Micro and some models of the SP are backlit, giving brighter images.

DS

The DS has an 18-bit RGB color palette, making a total of 262,144 possible colors. And they're 32,767 simultaneous colors.

3DS

Sega

Master System

The Master System had a 6-bit RGB palette, with 31 colors on-screen at once. It is possible to display all 64 colors at once using raster effects.
There are only 512 different 8x8 tile patterns to cover the screen though, when 768 would be required for a complete 256x192 screen. This means that at least 1/3 of the tiles will have to be repeated. To help maximize tile reuse, they can be flipped either vertically or horizontally. The 64 sprites of 8x16 pixels can also be used to help to cover the screen.
Because of the constraints mentioned above, there are no current correct simulated screen images available for the Sega Master System.
0x000x010x020x030x040x050x060x070x080x090x0A0x0B0x0C0x0D0x0E0x0F
0x100x110x120x130x140x150x160x170x180x190x1A0x1B0x1C0x1D0x1E0x1F
0x200x210x220x230x240x250x260x270x280x290x2A0x2B0x2C0x2D0x2E0x2F
0x300x310x320x330x340x350x360x370x380x390x3A0x3B0x3C0x3D0x3E0x3F

Mega Drive/Genesis

The Mega Drive/Genesis used a 9-bit RGB palette with up to 61 colors on-screen at once without raster effects.

Game Gear

The Game Gear had a 12-bit RGB palette, with 32 colors on-screen at once.

32X

The Sega 32X had a 15-bit RGB palette, with all colors available for display.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RGB_15bits_palette_sample_image.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RGB_15bits_palette_color_test_chart.png

NEC

TurboGrafx-16

The TurboGrafx-16 used a 9-bit RGB palette, like the Mega Drive/Genesis, consisting of 512 colors with 482 colors on-screen at once.